Why we should accept Mujuru apology

By Nomazulu Thata

We are all sinners, who among us can sincerely say that we are without sin. It is very important to start with oneself, look inward and ask if you think Joice Mujuru does not deserve our apology as a nation in as much as we want to be forgiven of our sins.

Our own sins are not known because we are not in the lime light. She was not in the genocide architect. She was not part of the corruption scandals the rocked the nation in the 1988s. The economic down turn of the nineties was not her making.

She never sent soldiers to Congo to fight. The implementation of ESAP was not her decision, she could not possibly have been the in the economic decision making to accept it as prescription to the failing economy. The farm invasions were not her instigation.

She never was the one who commanded the operation Murambatsvina in 2005, nor was she the one who perpetrated violence that killed thousands in the general elections of 2008. She was aware of all these atrocities and surely was part of the ruling party that perpetrated those atrocities.

This is a woman who was in the cabinet and she executed government administration duties at the behest of the President of Republic of Zimbabwe. Her sin here is that she CONDONED all failures of the government from the onset because she was in the government. She believed in Zanu PF since the time of the guerrilla movement. She was the baby of the party; hence, Mr. Mugabe would make references of her as his daughter.

When Zimbabwe became independent in 1980 she was aware of her inadequacies, she went to night-schools to catch up with the education she did not have. She read from secondary form-two until she got her Doctoral degree.

Later her husband, who had resigned from being the general, engaged in multiple businesses in the country some of which are said to have been very dubious businesses, but she was the wife, who never saw through her hubby’s billion dollar empires for once.

Or maybe she was aware of it, but she condoned it too and went with it. She may not have been the one who made money directly but her husband did. Later she was nicknamed Madam 10%. She is accused of exhorting money from some companies in the country. She benefited from the farm invasions massively.

Her husband dies under very mysterious circumstances, for once she is left vulnerable. That should have been the time when she should have seen through her boss, the President. She did not, be it that it was tactical; it is not clear why she chose to go with the explanation regarding the death of her hubby.

So many things happened without her knowing or knowledge of serious undercurrents in the Zanu political landscape. Joyce Mujuru was a loyal and obedient party and government member sitting at the highest echelons of the Zanu government.

I am sure Joyce Mujuru could not understand the world anymore when she got purged by people who are very junior to her even politically. Her loyalty to the party and government was evident to all. She was stripped naked by young woman called Dr. Grace Mugabe and urinated upon her, fabricated reasons to destroy her.

But her “sorry,” Mai Mujuru’s sorry should never be construed as turning another chick, but she is appealing for an apology to the nation, and not to her party Zanu that still need to think how her “criminal” her case should be crafted to jail her.

This is a woman who lost her most decorated husband not long ago; she should be mourning him still, but is being treated like a criminal in a country she fought for like all other liberators. The red line was crossed long back by Zanu, to ridicule a widow to the level of calling her a witch. There were displays of dead chickens in her farm as evidence of her witchcraft. Who believes that nonsense?

With all the series of event regarding her role in the struggle: her weaknesses, her failures, her shortcomings, lack of oversight, denial, even insults to Dr. Nkomo, we the people of Zimbabwe should accept her apology to the nation. It takes a lot in a person to come up with a word “sorry.”

It is a very strong word and a sign that the nation should reconsider her apology very carefully and embrace it. We should tell ourselves that healing has started in Zimbabwe. For the healing to take place we have to learn to say sorry and let go, it does not matter how painful.

Mai Mujuru with her 60 years is in a position to say sorry, an old man of 91 years is unable to say sorry for all the atrocities he has done in the country. The atrocities of the 80s, the farm invasions of 2000, the Murambatsvina of 2005, the general elections of 2008, the rigged elections of 2013, Mr. Mugabe has never said sorry for once.

To say “it was a moment of madness” does not appease anyone. The people of Mathebeleland and Midlands are very bitter and angry. We want justice in this country. Even if they die, we shall demand that justice until we get it.

We all remember Zvobgo, before he died, he apologised to the people of Mathebeleland and Midlands about the genocide activities that took place in that region. As a learned man he knew that if he died not having apologized, justice was going to follow him to his grave and be charged in death.

We all talk about the apology of Dr. Zvobgo as an example of legal good practice. Healing starts when people realise their mistakes and are able to face the country and say sorry, this is exactly what Mai Mujuru has done. Much as I cannot speak on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe, I can only speak for myself and tell myself that indeed I accept her apology so that I move on.

I need to think about the people I have sinned against in my life and how many have forgiven me. I do empathize with Mai Mujuru when she asks forgiveness to the nation. That was the noblest thing she could at this point in time.

It is for this reason that we ask the government of Zanu to come out and say sorry to the people of Mathebeleland and Midlands so that the country moves on. Insulting the Kalangas and telling them that they are uneducated divides the nation and creates tensions already existing in the country.

It is the arrogance of Zanu PF that think they can get away with murder. The people of Mathebeleland will want official apology coming from the government. Some truth and reconciliation is the way forward.

The young people of Mathebeleland are now demanding a separate state of Mthwakazi because they do not see how they can be live side by side with people who do not accept that crimes were committed in Zimbabwe. Also too crimes were committed in other regions of the country by the same government of Zanu PF.

Mai Mujuru has opened the healing process. We hope that her former boss, Mr. Robert Gabriel Mugabe and his cabal will emulate from this noble gesture before they die. An apology is never late, only that it must be done. Thumbs up Mai Mujuru! That was great!